Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series
Speaker 1: from Psalm twenty three called Living in the Goodness of God.
Speaker 1: It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where
Speaker 1: you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. So
Speaker 1: let's get started. Here's part two of a message called
Speaker 1: how to be Led by God's Spirit.
Speaker 2: Let me show you something that a lot of Christians
Speaker 2: and believers don't get. Let's show you two verses that
Speaker 2: look totally opposite of each other up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: One John two fifteen. By the way, they're written by
Speaker 2: the same guy. John wrote the book John, and he
Speaker 2: wrote first, second, and third John Letters and first John
Speaker 2: Chapter two. He says this, do not love the world
Speaker 2: or anything that belongs to the world. If you love
Speaker 2: the world, you cannot love the Father. WHOA, that's pretty
Speaker 2: clear now. That same guy who wrote that also wrote this,
Speaker 2: the most famous verse in the Bible, God so loved
Speaker 2: the world. Well, what is it? I mean, huh? That
Speaker 2: looks like a big contradiction right there, God so loved
Speaker 2: the world. And then he says, but you, you're not to
Speaker 2: love the world. And if you love the world, to
Speaker 2: love the Father's not in you. Well, which is it?
Speaker 2: You need to understand the meaning of the word world.
Speaker 2: The world is used two different ways in the scripture.
Speaker 2: It refers to the world's value system and it refers
Speaker 2: to the world's people. We are to love the people
Speaker 2: and not love the value system. Does that make sense.
Speaker 2: We are to love the people no matter what kind
Speaker 2: of lifestyle they live, but we are to not love.
Speaker 2: In fact, the Bible says we are to hate the
Speaker 2: value system, like prejudice and racism and injustice and sexism,
Speaker 2: and people hurting each other and war. We are to
Speaker 2: hate eat the things that hurt people in the world.
Speaker 2: Love the people, hate the value system. You know what
Speaker 2: the problem is, We got it reversed. We love the
Speaker 2: value system, hate the people. Christians do this all the time.
Speaker 2: They're no different. They're just as materialistic, they're just as hedonistic.
Speaker 2: They're you know, they're just as involved in everything in culture.
Speaker 2: They love the culture and hate the people. God says, no, no,
Speaker 2: you got that all wrong. You got it backwards. Love
Speaker 2: the world people, don't love the world's value system. Okay,
Speaker 2: Five things I have to stop doing one. I can't
Speaker 2: follow a culture that doesn't follow God to you, I
Speaker 2: can't follow friends who aren't led by God. Number three.
Speaker 2: Third thing why I often miss God's will is this,
Speaker 2: I can't look to other sources besides God. If I'm
Speaker 2: looking for direction for my life, the best place to
Speaker 2: look is not on a TV talk show. The best
Speaker 2: place to look is to read the owner's Vaniel that's
Speaker 2: the Bible, and talk to the creator who made you.
Speaker 2: And that's where you're going to find out about your life.
Speaker 2: I can't look to other sources besides God. Now, there
Speaker 2: are many other sources that want to tell you how
Speaker 2: to run your life, many other replacements. There are many
Speaker 2: other substitutes for God, a lot of substitutes for God
Speaker 2: in the world. They're actually called idols. I mean, for instance,
Speaker 2: when you're looking for what am I supposed to do
Speaker 2: with my life? I've actually met some believers who think
Speaker 2: they can pray to God and read a horoscope. Really,
Speaker 2: that's like saying I believe in reincarnation and heaven at
Speaker 2: the same time. They're mutually exclusive. You either believe in
Speaker 2: one or the other. You can't believe in both. That's illogical, irrational,
Speaker 2: and it makes no sense at all. And so God says,
Speaker 2: I want you to look to Me and don't look
Speaker 2: to other things for your guidance. Now, when people look
Speaker 2: to anything else besides God for guidance for their life,
Speaker 2: you know what that's called. When they're looking for divine
Speaker 2: guidance but they're not actually praying or reading the Bible,
Speaker 2: it's called divination. Divination, you heard this word. Divination means
Speaker 2: to try to find about your future without going to
Speaker 2: your creator. That's called divination. And they're countless kinds of
Speaker 2: ways to define the future, fortune telling and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: predictions and prognosies and things like that. Do you know
Speaker 2: in ancient times, what was the most common way that
Speaker 2: people discerned the future. Know what this is? It was
Speaker 2: called consulting the liver. They would actually sacrifice animals, they'd
Speaker 2: cut out a liver because the liver was supposed to
Speaker 2: be the heaviest organ in the body. And then somebody
Speaker 2: would look at it and goes, mm, yeah, go to war,
Speaker 2: go to battle, win this one. Now. I mean, this
Speaker 2: is not some little minor thing. The Roman Empire was
Speaker 2: built on defining the liver. No Roman soldier would go
Speaker 2: into battle without looking at the livery. The Babylonians looked
Speaker 2: at the liver. The Etruscans looked at the liver. This
Speaker 2: was the most commonly used form of predicting the future,
Speaker 2: and in fact it's actually even mentioned in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse here on the screen. The Bible
Speaker 2: says in Ezekiel twenty one, the king of Babylon now
Speaker 2: stands at a crossroad, uncertain of whether or not to attack.
Speaker 2: He was going to attack Jerusalem, didn't know. So his
Speaker 2: advisors will cast lots by shaking arrows from the quiver.
Speaker 2: That was another popular way. You take arrows in a
Speaker 2: quiver and you throw them out on the ground and
Speaker 2: you go, mmm, don't go to battle, okay. And that
Speaker 2: was one and the other end they will inspect the
Speaker 2: livers of sacrificed animals. Fifty ways to lose your liver
Speaker 2: right there, or love your liver or whatever. So that
Speaker 2: was it called a divination. Uh does that kind of
Speaker 2: stuff will happen today? Hello? Have you ever seen a
Speaker 2: palm reading shop or tea leading or reading shop or
Speaker 2: a crystal ball? And Madam so and so, and I
Speaker 2: mean that stuff is still still around, tarot cards, horoscopes.
Speaker 2: These are called divination looking to the future without looking
Speaker 2: to God, and God says no, no, don't do any
Speaker 2: of that kind of stuff. Don't go call the psychic hotline.
Speaker 2: By the way, here's a little tip. If the psychic
Speaker 2: hotline says, what's your credit card number? Hang up? They
Speaker 2: should know that. And I want to say, you tell me,
Speaker 2: if you're so smart, you tell me. If he can't
Speaker 2: tell me my credit card, he can't tell me anything
Speaker 2: else that's valuable because he has no ability at all.
Speaker 2: I actually did a little research on it just for
Speaker 2: fun this week, looking at the modern things divination, and
Speaker 2: there's some crazy bizarre things out there. For instance, in Russia,
Speaker 2: they throw beans on the floor and then look at
Speaker 2: the pattern, and I'm going, yeah, that's that's a lot
Speaker 2: of beans right there. So okay, you know that's a
Speaker 2: pile of beans or whatever. Uh. There's there's a thing
Speaker 2: called parrot parrot nancy where you let a parrot out
Speaker 2: of its cage and it goes over and picks up
Speaker 2: a card and then you know who you're supposed to marry. Okay,
Speaker 2: there's I'm not making this up. There's a there's a
Speaker 2: divination called rumpology, and there are people you can pay
Speaker 2: who will tell you your future by looking at the shape
Speaker 2: of your butt. I'm not making that up. Okay, I'm
Speaker 2: not making it up. That's called stupidity. That's saying I would.
Speaker 2: And why do they People go to all these others
Speaker 2: because they don't want a boss in their life. They
Speaker 2: want the future, but they don't want God. They don't
Speaker 2: want a lord. They don't want somebody that have to serve.
Speaker 2: And so the ridiculousness of looking to other sources besides God.
Speaker 2: The Bible warns us look at this verse. Deuteronomy eighteen
Speaker 2: says this, never look to psychics or seances, or fortune telling,
Speaker 2: or the stars, or people who claim to be in
Speaker 2: contact with the dead. People who do these things are
Speaker 2: doing evil, and God hates it with a passion. Now
Speaker 2: I doubt any of you are doing this, but I
Speaker 2: will tell you this. If you know a believer who's
Speaker 2: doing this, politely, gently, lovingly tell them you're heading down
Speaker 2: the wrong track. You're never going to know God's will
Speaker 2: through a seance, through a medium, through a horoscope, through astrology.
Speaker 2: If you are following the stars, you're not following the sun.
Speaker 2: S n you're not following the sun, you're not following God.
Speaker 2: These are counterfeits, you know today, years ago Gideon used
Speaker 2: that fleece to discern God's will. People get fleeced all
Speaker 2: the time today, cults and fad therapies and scientology and
Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff. The Bible tells us that Corinthians
Speaker 2: eleventh Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So we
Speaker 2: just got to avoid that. And the Bible tells us
Speaker 2: in first John four, verse one, don't believe everything you hear.
Speaker 2: That's a good thing to do on to read on
Speaker 2: the internet. Actually, I read a quote the other day
Speaker 2: on the internet, don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Speaker 2: Abraham Lincoln. That guy was way ahead of his time.
Speaker 2: All I say, okay, all right, I've got I know
Speaker 2: I'm taking a long time on this, But if you
Speaker 2: want to be led by the spirit of God, there's
Speaker 2: some things you have to stop doing before you start
Speaker 2: doing the other can't follow culture, can't follow friends who
Speaker 2: are not following God. Can't look to other sources besides God,
Speaker 2: like all those divination things. And number four, this is
Speaker 2: a one that would white a lot of us. I
Speaker 2: must stop being led by my circumstances. Now, the other
Speaker 2: ones may have not been relatable to you, but this
Speaker 2: one is certainly. I must stop being led by my circumstance.
Speaker 2: I'm amazed how many believers the number one way they
Speaker 2: try to determine God's will is, well, what's my circumstance?
Speaker 2: You know I missed the plane, It must be God's will.
Speaker 2: The heavy traffic, it must be God's will. The offering
Speaker 2: plate skipped my road, that was God's will. I've had people,
Speaker 2: you know, you know I bumped into them in a cart,
Speaker 2: and must be God's will. We bumped into each other.
Speaker 2: I won't say anything about that, but you know, you
Speaker 2: know I overslept today. It is God's will. I don't
Speaker 2: go to church. You're skating on thin ice, shallow, shaky
Speaker 2: ground when you build your life around your circumstances. There
Speaker 2: are a lot of examples in the Bible where the
Speaker 2: circumstances were the exact opposite of God's will. When I
Speaker 2: think about the story of Jonah, God said to Jonah, Jonah,
Speaker 2: I want you to go to Nineva, and I want
Speaker 2: you to preach to it. And they were the hated
Speaker 2: enemies of the Israelites because they had oppressed them for years.
Speaker 2: And Jonah said, I'm not going. It was literally racial prejudice,
Speaker 2: and I'm not going. Instead of going east to Ninevah,
Speaker 2: he gets on board a ship headed for Tarsis, which
Speaker 2: is a seaport on the coast of Spain. He's going
Speaker 2: as far east as he can. God said go west,
Speaker 2: and he goes east. But the circumstances there was a
Speaker 2: ship waiting there headed for Tarsius. He had the money
Speaker 2: for a ticket. They had face on board. He gets
Speaker 2: on board, they take him on. It must be God's will.
Speaker 2: I've seen circumstance ruin a lot of businesses and business
Speaker 2: opportunities because it looked like a good deal. Let me
Speaker 2: give you another example from Paul. I wrote the scripture
Speaker 2: down there on your outline. You might want to read it.
Speaker 2: Acts twenty seven. It's about another Mediterranean cruise about two
Speaker 2: thousand years later, and Paul is being taken to Rome
Speaker 2: as a prisoner, and the night before the ship is leaving,
Speaker 2: God says to him in his prayer time, tell him
Speaker 2: not to go tomorrow because they're going to head straight
Speaker 2: into a storm. And Paul says to the sailors and
Speaker 2: the captain of the ship, guys, if we leave today,
Speaker 2: we're going to go straight into a storm. But they
Speaker 2: didn't listen to him. And here's what the Bible says
Speaker 2: up here on the screen. Paul said, men, he is
Speaker 2: talking to the sailors. If we sail now, this voyage
Speaker 2: will be a disaster. We'll lose the ship, the cargo,
Speaker 2: and maybe even our own lives. But when a gentle
Speaker 2: breeze came up, they thought, this is exactly what we wanted.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had a gentle breeze come up in
Speaker 2: your life and think this is exactly what I wanted,
Speaker 2: and you were heading straight into a storm. When a
Speaker 2: gentle brief came up, they thought this is exactly what
Speaker 2: we wanted. So they launched out, thinking it would be
Speaker 2: smooth sailing. Sound familiar that new business venture. Thinking it
Speaker 2: would be smooth sailing. But at see a violent typhoon
Speaker 2: storm arose, which made it impossible to control the direction
Speaker 2: of the ship. So we gave up and just let
Speaker 2: her drift. That is the epitaph of many a believer
Speaker 2: who trusted in circumstances. We just finally gave out and
Speaker 2: let her drift. Because we thought it was right. The
Speaker 2: circumstances look good, but that was a disastrous business deal
Speaker 2: or marriage or whatever. How about you, how many times
Speaker 2: have you ever thought of something circumstantial was an open
Speaker 2: door and you later found out it was a trapdoor.
Speaker 2: You can't just trust circumstances. I could give you example
Speaker 2: example in the Bible about this where David he had
Speaker 2: sent his army to war in spring, and he's at home,
Speaker 2: lollygagging around in his pj's, and he's up upstairs and
Speaker 2: he looks out and he sees a beautiful woman taking
Speaker 2: a bath on a roof. What's she taking a bath
Speaker 2: on a roof for? And he looks down from his
Speaker 2: palace and see there, and he goes very pretty. Her
Speaker 2: husband's at war, I'm home alone. She's attractive, and he
Speaker 2: falls into affair. Circumstances can lead you the wrong way.
Speaker 2: In fact, this satan can manipulate circumstances. You seem to
Speaker 2: be aware of that, and so you always check your
Speaker 2: circumstances against God's word. And what I mean by that
Speaker 2: is that you don't use circumstances to discern God's will,
Speaker 2: but you use it to confirm God's will. Now let
Speaker 2: me give you one more. If I want to be
Speaker 2: led by God's spirit, I cannot be led by my feelings.
Speaker 2: If I want to be led by God's spirit, I
Speaker 2: cannot be led by my feelings. Because your feelings lie
Speaker 2: to you all the time. Now, every emotion is temporary,
Speaker 2: whether it's a good one or a bad one. You
Speaker 2: can be elated at your wedding and it will not last.
Speaker 2: You can be elated at Disneyland, it will not last.
Speaker 2: You can be elated at winning a game for a
Speaker 2: team that you were rooting for. It will not last.
Speaker 2: And the same is true if you're depressed, if you're discouraged,
Speaker 2: it will not last. No emotion can stay at the
Speaker 2: same level of intensity. If you have a panic attack,
Speaker 2: one thing you need to know it can't last. You
Speaker 2: cannot stay in a perpetual state of panic. This too
Speaker 2: will pass. And so you can't be led by your
Speaker 2: feelings because they're not permanent. They're just temporary. And the
Speaker 2: most common mistake, and I even hear Christians saying this
Speaker 2: today is well, just let your conscience be your guide.
Speaker 2: I had to tell you this. Your conscience is often wrong,
Speaker 2: so is mine. The Bible says the heart is deceitful.
Speaker 2: I've told you this many times, that you lie to
Speaker 2: yourself more than you lie to anybody else. Just because
Speaker 2: you think it doesn't make it true. Just because somebody
Speaker 2: else thought it doesn't make it true. Just because it's
Speaker 2: popular doesn't make it true. Something is true because it's true,
Speaker 2: not what you think is true is true, not what
Speaker 2: you hope is true, not whatever all these other things.
Speaker 2: Truth is simply truth. It's either right or it's not right. Now.
Speaker 2: Most people base their decisions on how they feel. And
Speaker 2: I can't tell you how many times, and it sounds
Speaker 2: like a spiritual thing. Say, why did you do that? Well,
Speaker 2: I just had a peace about it. That's not enough, friend,
Speaker 2: to make a decision on. Well, I had a piece
Speaker 2: about it. Piece is a good thing. But you better
Speaker 2: have more basis for your decision than just a peaceful feeling,
Speaker 2: because you could have a peaceful, easy feeling and I
Speaker 2: know it won't let you go. So you were really
Speaker 2: old people. If you know those lyrics, you are really
Speaker 2: really old. I just I'm feeling right at home here
Speaker 2: right now. Okay, you can't just go buy your feelings.
Speaker 2: Feelings lie. It may be the result of some burrito
Speaker 2: you ate or something you know. Do you remember that
Speaker 2: story of Joe and I told you, Hey, here's a ship, Hey,
Speaker 2: I got the money. Hey, they take me on board.
Speaker 2: And he goes down, and he goes into the bottom
Speaker 2: ship and he falls into a nice, peaceful sleep. He's
Speaker 2: totally out of the will of God and he's at peace.
Speaker 2: So that's not enough. Piece is a good thing, But
Speaker 2: it's not to base your life on simply emotions. Because
Speaker 2: he was totally disobeying God. Satan can give you false peace.
Speaker 2: Proverbs fourteen, verse twelve. You may feel circle the word feel.
Speaker 2: You may feel you're on the right path, the right road,
Speaker 2: and still end up dead. Okay, and the result of
Speaker 2: being manipulated my moods. Look at the next verse. We've
Speaker 2: all strayed away like sheep. We have left God's path
Speaker 2: to follow our own. And why do we leave God's
Speaker 2: path to follow on because we felt like it. Those
Speaker 2: are things you have to stop doing if you want
Speaker 2: to be led by the spirit. Now the stuff you
Speaker 2: should do going be a whole lot faster, Okay, quickly.
Speaker 2: It's not gonna take me a long time. Because this
Speaker 2: is self explanatory. On this dude talked about the five
Speaker 2: things you gotta stop doing. What are the five things
Speaker 2: you start doing? Very easy to understand. Number one. If
Speaker 2: I want to get goddance from God, I want divine direction.
Speaker 2: Number One, I must want to be led. I got
Speaker 2: to desire it first. I must want to be led.
Speaker 2: It starts with desire, It starts with longing, it starts
Speaker 2: with craving. Have you ever had anybody hold your head
Speaker 2: under the water so long that you go, I have
Speaker 2: got to get air. When you get that desperate and
Speaker 2: when you cry out to God, say God, I have
Speaker 2: got to know. I've got to know what you want
Speaker 2: me to do. It's not like I kind of would
Speaker 2: like to know. It would be helpful to know. If
Speaker 2: you don't have any intensity of your passion in your
Speaker 2: prayer life about knowing God's will, God's going well, I
Speaker 2: guess it's not that important to you. But when you
Speaker 2: say I've got to have it, it's like I'm hungry,
Speaker 2: I've got to have food. I'm out of breath. I've
Speaker 2: got to have oxygen. I don't know which way to
Speaker 2: go in life. God, I've got to know your will.
Speaker 2: I must want to be led by the spirit I'm
Speaker 2: forty verse eight, My God, I want to do what
Speaker 2: you want, and your teachings are in my heart. The
Speaker 2: reason why he wants it is because he's reading the Bible.
Speaker 2: Your teachings are in my heart. Number two, I must
Speaker 2: be willing to do what God says. I must not
Speaker 2: only want God's will, I've got to be willing to
Speaker 2: do what God says. I'm willing to obey in advance.
Speaker 2: In other words, God, before you even tell me what
Speaker 2: you want me to do, my answer in advance is
Speaker 2: already yes. God doesn't tell you his will, and then
Speaker 2: you get to decide whether you do it or not.
Speaker 2: You have to decide an event you prequalify. God's not
Speaker 2: going to show you what he wants to do with
Speaker 2: your life, and then you get to decide about it.
Speaker 2: You say, God, I surrender my life to you completely.
Speaker 2: I don't just want your will. I'm willing whatever it is.
Speaker 2: I don't even understand it. I don't even know it,
Speaker 2: but whatever it is, I'm willing in advance. John seven seventeen,
Speaker 2: Jesus said this, whoever is willing to do what God
Speaker 2: wants and chooses it. It's a choice. You choose God's
Speaker 2: will will know if what I teach comes from God,
Speaker 2: so he says, trust me in advance.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after
Speaker 1: that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a
Speaker 1: letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Here's Rick. You know I love hearing from Daily Hope
Speaker 2: listeners like you. And here's one note that I got
Speaker 2: from Raymond in New York. Your pastor, Rick, I'd like
Speaker 2: you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast.
Speaker 2: The nuggets that I get I share with my lunch
Speaker 2: group at work, and my family benefits as well because
Speaker 2: at dinner time, my wife and my son hear the
Speaker 2: nugget that I learned during the day and we discuss it.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks
Speaker 2: for writing me, and thanks for sharing your story. You
Speaker 2: encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that you're
Speaker 2: sharing Daily Hope with your co workers and with your family.
Speaker 2: If God has used this broadcast in your life, would
Speaker 2: you let me know about it and tell your story.
Speaker 2: It'll be good for you, it'll be good for me,
Speaker 2: and it'll be good for all the others who hear it.
Speaker 2: I love you and I thank God for you. And
Speaker 2: join me next time as we continue to look into
Speaker 2: God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: Now, if you'd like to let Rick know how much
Speaker 1: this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send
Speaker 1: him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick
Speaker 1: at Pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick dot com.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your generous financial support